Stowing and packing debris in mines

ABSTRACT

Underground stowing or packing apparatus for stowing or packing debris into a pack-hole or worked out mineral seam comprising, when the apparatus is operationally associated with the pack-hole or seam, one or more chains adapted to extend over the length of the pack-hole or seam required to be stowed or packed with debris and into or beyond a mine roadway adjacent to said pack-hole or seam, the chain or chains each having an upper and lower run passing at their ends about a drive sprocket and a return sprocket respectively and only being guided and supported at their ends, a sweeping means mounted on the chain or chains so as to be located at or near the roof of the pack-hole or worked out seam and so as to be traversable by the chain or chains between a debris collecting position and a debris packing or stowing position, means to anchor the drive and return sprockets so as to tension the chain or chains therebetween and means for constraining the movement of debris away from a pack as it is being formed in the pack-hole or worked out mineral seam.

United States Patent 1191 Lockwood STOWING'AND PACKING DEBRIS IN MINES[75] Inventor: Peter Lockwood, Sheffield, England [73] Assignee:Lockwood Bennett Limited,

Sheffield, England 22 Filed: June 26,1972

1211 App]. No.: 266,477

OTHER PUBLICATIONS Primary Examiner-Dennis L. Taylor Mining and MineralsEngineering, June 1968, page [451 Feb. 12, 1974 [5 7] ABSTRACTUnderground stowing or packing apparatus for stowing or packing debrisinto a pack-hole or worked out mineral seam comprising, when theapparatus is operationally associated with the pack-hole or seam, one ormore chains adapted to extend over the length of the pack-hole or seamrequired to be stowed or packed with debris and into or beyond a mineroadway adjacent to said pack-hole or seam, the chain or chains eachhaving an upper and lower run passing at their ends about a drivesprocket and a return sprocket respectively and only being guided andsupported at their ends, a sweeping means mounted on the chain or chainsso as to be located at or near the roof of the pack-hole or worked outseam and so as to be traversable by the chain or chains between a debriscollecting position and a debris packing or stowing position, means toanchor the drive and return sprockets so as to tension the chain orchains therebetween and means for constraining the movement of debrisaway from a pack as it is being formed in the pack-hole or worked outmineral seam.

23 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures saw 2 OF 4 PATENTED FEB 12 I974PATENTEUFB12 m 3.791.155

SHEET 3 [IF 4 j FIGS FIG 4 1 STOWING AND PACKING DEBRIS IN MINES Thisinvention relates to an apparatus for stowing debris or for buildingpacks of debris on one or both sides of a mine roadway to assist insupporting the roof above and adjacent the roadway, or for fillingworked out seams of mineral.

The present invention provides apparatus by which the building of packsis commenced at the roadway side of each pack, working away from theroadway and also which enables the packing to be mechanically effectedright up to the roof.

According to the present invention, underground stowing or packingapparatus for stowing or packing debris into a pack-hole or worked outmineral seam comprises, when the apparatus is operationally associatedwith the pack-hole or seam, one or more chains adapted to extend overthe length of the pack-hole or outseam and so as to be traversable bythe chain or chains between a debris collecting position and a debrispacking or stowing position, means to anchor the drive and returnsprockets so as to tension the chain or chains therebetween and meansfor constraining the movement of debris away from a pack as it is beingformed in the pack-hole or worked out mineral seam.

The invention is particularly useful in coal mining by the longwalltechnique where hydraulically powered self-advancing roof supports areusually provided along the face with roadways driven at each end'of theface and the packs built with debris extracted from the ripping lip ofeach roadway.

The apparatus preferably comprises a catching hopper adapted to catch,and support above floor level, debris as is detached from the rippinglip of the roadway during the course of advancing the roadway, e.g., byshot-firing or a ripping machine and the sweeping means is adapted toextend into the hopper to obtain a load of pack-building debris. Theanchoring means for each sprocket may comprise at least one hydraulicchock, and the drive sprocket my be driven by a hydraulic motor througha gearbox.

Thus a first load of debris may be swept by the apparatus from a loadingposition in the roadway and above floor level but below roof level ofthe pack-hole or worked out seam adjacent the roadway to fall to thefloor to-form part of the outer, roadway end of a pack in the packholeor worked out seam, but with a gap between the top of the first sweptload and the roof of the pack-hole or worked out seam, whileconstraining the movement of debris away from the pack. Then a secondload of debris may be swept over the top of the first load and throughthe gap to fall to the floor beyond the first load, and again leaving agap at the top thereof, with successive loads swept through thesuccessive gaps until the debris has been packed or stowed to therequired length. The packing or stowing is then completed up to the roofby filling the gaps working from the'inner end of the pack towards theouter, roadway 2 end by sweeping further loads of debris through theremaining gaps and over the tops of previous loads.

The apparatus may be attached to conventional roof supports extendingalong the mineral face preferably through substantially horizontallyarranged hydraulic rams, which may be double-acting so that the roofsupports are used as anchors, and the apparatus may be advanced inconjunction with the normal advance of the supports as the faceadvances. Of course, it is possible to provide separate staker props forthis same anchoring purpose.

The sweeping means preferably projects unilaterally with respect to thechain or chains and it is usually desirable that it does not returndebris on its return stroke towards the roadway. This may be achieved byconstituting the sweeping means as a blade so mounted that it will inone position cause packing of the debris in one direction of movement ofthe chain or chains and in another position will cause packing in theother direction of movement of the chain or chains, the arrangementbeing such that during a driving, i.e., packing run, the blade bitesinto the debris while on its return run the relationship of the blade tothe chain or chains is unchanged so that instead of sweeping back debrisin the reverse direction, the blade rides itself out of the debris.

Thus, the chain or chains may be attached to each end of a back platefrom which extends transversely to the direction of movement of thesweeping means a support arm carrying two spaced apart and downwardlydirected brackets suitably apertured to receive a pivot pin,transversely to the direction of movement of the sweeping means, onwhich the blade is pivoted at its mid-length. With the blade provided,towards each end of its upper surface, with an apertured bracket,andwith each side of the support arm also provided with an aperturedbracket extending laterally from the arm, the arm brackets and bladebrackets being located in adjacent parallel planes, the blade can bepivoted manually from a first inclined position in which the aperturesin a blade bracket and its adjacent arm bracket are aligned for theinsertion of a locking pin therethrough to a second inclined position,in which the locking pin passes through the aligned apertures in theother brackets, the selection of a direction of inclination dependingupon the direction of packing.

The movement of the debris away from the pack may be constrained by apack retaining shield adapted to form the face side wall of the packthereby preventing pack building materials from falling e.g. into therear ends of any powered supports, and enabling a solid pack to beachieved. The shield may be constructed from a number of separateplates, hinged together at their abutting edges (which are vertical whenconsidering a substantially horizontal mineral seam), the number ofplates employed being dependent upon the pack length required. Theplates are selfsupporting and the plate (if a pack is required only onone side of the roadway) or plates (if packs are required on both sidesof the roadway) adjacent the hopper is or are attached thereto.

With one of the sprockets located in the roadway, the hopper may becurved upwardly in the area adjacent the anchoring means of thatsprocket in order to stand clear of such anchoring means. However, withno sprocket in the roadway, the hopper can extend, at

constant height, right across the roadway. Thus, in the first caseaccess to the hopper by the sweeping means is provided at one side onlyof the hopper, which in the second case it is provided at both sides ofthe hopper. To assist the sweeping means entering the hopper, the lattermay be curved downwardly, to accommodate any lowering of the sweepingmeans from the roof level due to sag in the chain.

Such apparatus readily accommodates, and is unaffected by, unevenness ofthe roof of the pack-hole or worked out seam, and the apparatus may besatisfactorily installed at a main gate.

The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of examplewith reference to the building of packs adjacent a mine roadway withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the apparatus according to the inventioninstalled at one end of a lon'gwall mineral face;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1 and additionally includes details ofconventional roof supports;

FIG. 3 is a view in the direction of arrow A of FIG.

FIG. FIG. FIG.

4 is a section on the line IVIV of FIG. 2;

5 is a section on the line v -V of FIG. 2;

6 is a front elevation of the sweeping means;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of FIG. 6; and,

FIG. 8 is an end elevation of FIG. 6.

In FIGS. 1 to 5 a mine roof is indicated at 1, a floor at 2, a mineralface at 3, a pack hole in the goaf area at 4, a roadway at 5, a face endat 6 and a ripping lip at 7. Along the entire length of the mineral face3 are disposed, in the conventional manner, a plurality of hydraulicallypowered advancing roof supports 8, as far as the vicinity of the roadway5 where three support means 9 are located, with further roof supports 10located beyond the roadway 5.

In the conventional manner, some of the force on the arches (not shown)that are erected as the roadway advances by removal of the ripping lip 7is relieved, and the problem of disposal of at least some, if not all,of the debris removed from the ripping lip 7 is overcome, by thebuilding of packs to one or both sides of the roadway 5. In FIG. 2 packsare built to both sides of the roadway 5 and these are a face side pack11 and a rib side pack 12, and the apparatus of the invention isconcerned with the building of these packs.

Accordingly a chain 13 extends along the length of the face side pack 11across the roadway 5 and beyond it to extend the length of the rib sidepack 12, the chain being located near the roof 1 and carrying a sweepingmeans 14. The chain 13 passes around a drive sprocket 15 located beyondthe end of the face side pack 11 remote from theroadway 5 that is drivenby a hydraulic motor and gearbox unit 16 while towards the end of therib side pack 12, remote from the roadway 5, the chain passes around areturn sprocket 17, the position of which is adjsutable to tension thechain 13 by a hydraulic piston and cylinder unit 18. r

The sprocket l5 and motor and gearbox unit 16 are attached to avertically arranged end plate 19 which is hinged at 20 to anintermediate plate 21 in turn hinged at 22 to an end plate 23, in turnhinged at 24 to the framework of a catching hopper and platform unitindicated generally at 25, the plates 19, 21 and 23 constituting a packretaining shield extending along the length of the face side pack 11 forconstraining the movement of the debris away from the pack. Similarly apack retaining shield for the rib side pack 12 is constituted by an endplate 26, carrying the return sprocket 17 and ram 18, hinged at 27 toanother end plate 28 hinged at 29 to the framework of the unit 25. Atintervals along theface side of the shields are provided verticallyarranged hydraulic anchor chocks 30, each attached to a single actinghydraulic advancing piston and cylinder unit 31. adapted to be attachedto an adjacent roof support 8 or 10 and to employ that support as ananchor point for advancing the shields, drive sprocket 15 etc. Thecatching hopper and platform unit 25 is provided with advancing pistonand cylinder units 32, one to each side, and these are respectivelyattached to an adjacent roof support 8 and 10 to advance the unit 25.

The unit 25 comprises a hopper 33 located beneath the ripping lip 7 thatis being removed at a rate dependent upon the advance of the mineralface 3, the hopper being adapted to catch the debris as it falls fromthe ripping lip, while the unit also includes a platform 34 forpersonnel to attend to the ripping lip removal, e.g., by shot-firing. Aplatform extension 35 is shown on which may be located, e.g., a drillingrig to drill bore holes for the shot or alternatively a cutting head toremove the ripping lip 7 mechanically.

The unit 25 is adjustable in position by a pair of hydraulic piston andcylinder units 36 which raise or lower the hopper 33 by pivoting thelatter about two spaced apart pivot pins 33A to allow, with the hopperin its uppermost position, the transport of items of equipment etc., toor from the mineral face area to proceed unhindered. The hopper 33 isopen-ended and has a front wall 37 and an inclined rear wall 38 andbeneath each open-end is provided a sloping plate 39 that is manuallyadjustable in position about a pin 40 to encourage debris that is beingswept from the hopper 33 towards the pack areas into those areas ratherthan into the area of the roadway 5, the plates 39 being adjustableuntil they are inclined generally vertically downwardly to allow theremoval of the unit 25 along the roadway after the restriction in widththereof by the insertion of conventional arches, which of course areinserted as soon as possible and as close as possible behind the unit25.

In FIGS. 6 to 8 are shown details of the sweeping means 14 and thiscomprises a back plate 41 to each end of which the chain 13 is attachedin one of two holes 42 provided for the purpose. A support arm 43extends from the plate 41 towards the pack hole and carries two spacedapart brackets 44 apertured to receive a pivot pin 45 on which aninclined blade 46 is pivotable about its mid-length. The blade 46 isprovided at its uppermost surface with two apertured brackets 47, onedisposed to each side of the pivot pin 45, these brackets being in thesame vertical plane as two further apertured brackets 48 located one toeach side of the support arm 43. Depending on the direction of packingrequired, i.e., the direction of the working stroke of the chain andblade, the latter is moved so that the apertures in a blade bracket 47and an adjacent arm bracket 48 are aligned and a locking pin 49 is theninserted through the aligned apertures, to fix the inclined position ofthe blade 46.

The apparatus is used as follows. Debris removed from the ripping lip 7is caught in the hopper 33 and a first load of debris is swept from thisloading position,

by actuating and motor ad gearbox unit 16, into the pack-hole to beginthe formation of the pack 11, the debris falling to the floor 2 and agap remaining at the top of the pack for the return of the blade byreversing the motor and gearbox unit 16. This procedure is repeated withsubsequent loads of debris swept over the top of the first load andthrough the gap to fall on to the floor beyond the first load until thepack has been built to the required length. Then, it only remainsnecessary to complete the pack by filling in the gap left for the returnof the blade by sweeping further loads of debris along the gap and overthe tops of previous loads. During reverse driving of the blade, thefixed angle of the latter has the effect of riding the blade upwardlyout of the debris to avoid any substantial amount of debris being sweptback in the reverse direction.

Thus, packing is commenced from the roadway side of the pack hole andextends away from the roadway until a pack of the desired length hasbeen built while the gap remaining at the top of the pack is filled into complete the pack by building from the inner end of the pack towardsthe roadway.

When this has been achieved for the pack 11 the blade position isreversed so that the other brackets 47 and 48 of the blade and supportarm respectively, are brought into use. When the pack 12 has been builtthe apparatus is ready for advancing by an amount depending upon thewidth of the hopper 33 and hence the length of the blade until theposition is again as shown in FIG. 2. The advancing of the apparatus isachieved by retracting the anchor chocks 30 and then actuating thepiston and cylinder units 31 and 32 which employ the roof supports 8 andas anchors, the roof supports 8 and 10 of course being advanced as theface 3 advances, irrespective of the position of the packing apparatusof the invention.

What I claim is:

1. An apparatus for packing the debris removed from an advancing mineroadway having right and left sides into at least one elongatedpack-hole adjacent the roadway and directed generally perpendicular tothe roadway comprising:

l a rotary drive element and a rotary return element, the drive andreturn elements being separated by approximately the length of thepack-hole and at least part of the roadway;

2. motor means for driving the rotary drive element;

3. endless means having an upper and a lower run passing about therotary drive element and the rotary return element, whereby the endlessmeans extends over the length of the pack-hole and at least part of theroadway;

4. a sweeping means carried by the endless means and located near theroof of the pack-hole so as to be traversible by the motor means betweena debris collecting position within the roadway and a debris packingposition within the pack-hole;

5. means for tensioning the endless means between the rotary drive andreturn elements; and

6. means for constraining packed debris from moving in the direction ofthe roadway advancement.

2. The apparatus as in claim. 1 wherein said endless means is a chainand said rotary drive and return elements are sprockets which engage thechain. I g

3. The apparatus as in claim 2, additionally comprising a catchinghopper positioned within the roadway adapted to catch the debris removedfrom the roadway and wherein the sweeping means may be positioned in thecatching hopper for collecting debris from the hopper.

4. The apparatus as in claim 2, in combination with anchoring means forsupporting the drive and return sprockets at substantially the sameheight and wherein said anchoring means includes a hydraulic chock.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the motor meanscomprises a hydraulic motor and a gear box.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said tensioning meanscomprises a first hydraulic ram for pulling at least one of the rotarydrive elements.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in combination with a roofsupport and wherein said anchoring means includes a second hydraulic ramfor coupling the hydraulic chock to the roof support.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the second hydraulic ramis double acting.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sweeping meansprojects unilaterally with respect to the chain.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sweeping meanscomprises a blade having first and second inclined positions, the firstposition for packing on the right side of the roadway and the secondposition for packing on the left side of the roadway.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the sweeping meansadditionally comprises a back plate, a support arm having two sides, thesupport arm being connected to the back plate, a pair of aperturedspaced apart brackets projecting from the sides of the support arm, apair of apertured brackets carried by the opposite side of the inclinedblade, and a pivot pin passing through one apertured support arm bracketand one apertured blade bracket.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 1 wherein the debrisconstraining means comprises a retaining shield means.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the shield means comprises aplurality. of edge abutting plates which are hinged together at theiredges.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the shield means spans the lengthof the pack-hole and abuts the hopper, and wherein a plurality of platesof the shield means are self-supporting and wherein the plate of theshield means adjacent the hopper is supported by a selfsupporting plateof the shield means.

15. The apparatus of claim 3, including anchoring means for anchoringone of the sprockets in the roadway and wherein the hopper is curvedupwardly on a side facing the anchoring means in order to stand clear ofthe anchoring means.

16. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the hopper has a side curveddownwardly to assist the sweeping means entering the hopper.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the hopper has two sides curveddownwardly to permit the entrance of the sweeping means from either ofthe two sides.

18. The apparatus of claim 3, including anchoring means for anchoringthe sprockets at the same height at the right and left sides of theroadway, whereby the chain extends at a substantially constant heightacross the roadway.

turn sprockets at the same height.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said anchoring means includes ahydraulic chock and a second hydraulic ram directed in the direction ofthe roadway.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the drive and return sprocketsare anchored at substantially the same height.

1. An apparatus for packing the debris removed from an advancing mineroadway having right and left sides into at least one elongatedpack-hole adjacent the roadway and directed generally perpendicular tothe roadway comprising:
 1. a rotary drive element and a rotary returnelement, the drive and return elements being separated by approximatelythe length of the pack-hole and at least part of the roadway;
 2. motormeans for driving the rotary drive element;
 3. endless means having anupper and a lower run passing about the rotary drive element and therotary return element, whereby the endless means extends over the lengthof the pack-hole and at least part of the roadway;
 4. a sweeping meanscarried by the endless means and located near the roof of the pack-holeso as to be traversible by the motor means between a debris collectingposition within the roadway and a debris packing position within thepack-hole;
 5. means for tensioning the endless means between the rotarydrive and return elements; and
 6. means for constraining packed debrisfrom moving in the direction of the roadway advancement.
 2. motor meansfor driving the rotary drive element;
 2. The apparatus as in claim 1wherein said endless means is a chain and said rotary drive and returnelements are sprockets which engage the chain.
 3. The apparatus as inclaim 2, additionally comprising a catching hopper positioned within theroadway adapted to catch the debris removed from the roadway and whereinthe sweeping means may be positioned in the catching hopper forcollecting debris from the hopper.
 3. endless means having an upper anda lower run passing about the rotary drive element and the rotary returnelement, whereby the endless means extends over the length of thepack-hole and at least part of the roadway;
 4. a sweeping means carriedby the endless means and located near the roof of the pack-hole so as tobe traversible by the motor means between a debris collecting positionwithin the roadway and a debris packing position within the pack-hole;4. The apparatus as in claim 2, in combination with anchoring means forsupporting the drive and return sprockets at substantially the sameheight and wherein said anchoring means includes a hydraulic chock. 5.The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the motor means comprises ahydraulic motor and a gear box.
 5. means for tensioning the endlessmeans between the rotary drive and return elements; and
 6. means forconstraining packed debris from moving in the direction of the roadwayadvancement.
 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein saidtensioning means comprises a first hydraulic ram for pulling at leastone of the rotary drive elements.
 7. The apparatus as claimed in claim4, in combination with a roof support and wherein said anchoring meansincludes a second hydraulic ram for coupling the hydraulic chock to theroof support.
 8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the secondhydraulic ram is double acting.
 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2,wherein the sweeping means projects unilaterally with respect to thechain.
 10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sweepingmeans comprises a blade having first and second inclined positions, thefirst position for packing on the right side of the roadway and thesecond position for packing on the left side of the roadway.
 11. Theapparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the sweeping meansadditionally comprises a back plate, a support arm having two sides, thesupport arm being connected to the back plate, a pair of aperturedspaced apart brackets projecting from the sides of the support arm, apair of apertured brackets carried by the opposite side of the inclinedblade, and a pivot pin passing through one apertured support arm bracketand one apertured blade bracket.
 12. The apparatus as claimed in claim11 wherein the debris constraining means comprises a retaining shieldmeans.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the shield means comprisesa plurality of edge abutting plates which are hinged together at theiredges.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the shield means spans thelength of the pack-hole and abuts the hopper, and wherein a plurality ofplates of the shield means are self-supporting and wherein the plate ofthe shield means adjacent the hopper is supported by a self-supportingplate of the shield means.
 15. The apparatus of claim 3, includinganchoring means for anchoring one of the sprockets in the roadway andwherein the hopper is curved upwardly on a side facing the anchoringmeans in order to stand clear of the anchoring means.
 16. The apparatusof claim 3, wherein the hopper has a side curved downwardly to assistthe sweeping means entering the hopper.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16,wherein the hopper has two sides curved downwardly to permit theentrance of the sweeping means from either of the two sides.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 3, including anchoring means for anchoring thesprockets at the same height at the right and left sides of the roadway,whereby the chain extends at a substantially constant height across theroadway.
 19. The apparatus of claim 3, including a piston and cylinderunit on each side of the hopper, and roof supports, the piston andcylinder units being attached to the roof supports.
 20. The apparatus ofclaim 10, wherein said chain tensioning means comprises a firsthydraulic ram.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20 in combination with theanchoring means for supporting the drive and return sprockets at thesame height.
 22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said anchoring meansincludes a hydraulic chock and a second hydraulic ram directed in thedirection of the roadway.
 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein thedrive and return sprockets are anchored at substantially the sameheight.